Description
The K't'inga class is a warship that has survived since the late 23rd century. Much like the Miranda class, currently the oldest ship in Starfleet service, the K't'inga has been refitted a number of times during her service life. Originally classed as a battle cruiser, the age of this class has caused it to be rated down to a light cruiser, superseded by the Vor'cha and K'vort classes in her original role.

Back in the 2270s, when the first of the K't'inga class were build, using the same design principle as the earlier D7 class that had given Starfleet a significant amount of trouble, the K't'inga was the most powerful vessel in service with the Klingon armed forces. Originally armed with four disrupter banks and two photon torpedo tubes the K't'inga was outgunned by both the Constitution refit and the new Excelsior class vessels then in Starfleet service but made up for that by being cheaper to produce. This suits the Klingons who usually deploy their ships in groups between two and five vessels as opposed to Starfleet generally sending one larger, more capable cruiser on the same type of assignment.

The K't'inga class has seen consistent upgrades to increase the service life of the craft. More advanced engines increased her top cruising speed from the original warp 5 to warp 7 and her maximum rated velocity from warp 7.8 to warp 9. By now, however, the K't'inga has fallen considerably behind the rest of the Klingon fleet, and indeed the fleets of other major players in the known galaxy, in terms of speed.

This has led to the withdrawal of the K't'tinga class from front line and border patrol duties, where quick response times are essential. The class is now most commonly used for convoy escort duty, great warp speed is not required when protecting vessels which are rather slow themselves.

Tactical systems were also improved. While the K't'inga was consistently denied the resources to add ablative armour to her hull, shield generators were upgraded to give the vessel adequate protection. However, unlike the K'vort class and later vessels, the K't'inga was not equipped with either regenerative or auto-modulating shield systems, she is deemed too low a priority.

The latest refit the K't'inga received, between 2367 and 2371 (as part of a major fleet-wide modernisation programme), saw the forward torpedo tube removed and replaced with a single disrupter cannon equivalent in fire power to the wing-mounted pulse disrupter cannons of the K'vort class. To keep adequate torpedo fire power two torpedo tubes were incorporated into the wide struts connecting the main body of he vessel with the nacelles. This was done to allow the two forward and one aft launcher to access the same torpedo magazine, stored well-protected in the centre of the vessel.

Furthermore, the original armament of four disrupter banks was completely removed from the vessel, they lacked the fire power needed to do any significant damage to the most current enemy shield and armour configurations. The old disrupter systems were passed on to military freighters (as they were still good enough to protect cargo ships against raiders) while the K't'inga received the secondary disrupter banks that had recently been removed from the K'Vort class in favour of yet more powerful emitters. Also, the number of disrupter banks was doubled, from four to eight.

All in all, this latest refit keeps the K't'inga class in service as a cost-effective light warship that is expected to remain in service at least until the end of the century.

This page generated by the IFS system.
IFS originally created by Frank Anon for use in Obsidian Fleet, http://www.obsidianfleet.net.
See http://www.obsidianfleet.net/ifs/ for details on how to obtain this software.
Fart: Page Rendered in: 0.161 seconds.